To learn a language effectively, nothing beats total immersion. The problem is that many learners of Chinese don’t live in an area where total immersion is practical or even possible, so a lot of learners help themselves along by watching Chinese TV shows. But in many countries, very few markets have Chinese TV [...]

It seems like the longer you study a language, the harder it becomes to improve in your ability to speak it. You get into a rut where you’re comfortable talking about certain subjects, and that’s what you talk about, so you hit a plateau. It’s really easy to get stuck on these plateaus [...]

It’s always interesting to find out how creative people get started creating their works of art, what drives them in their craft, and how their personal creative process works. I came across this article and interview about Wang Li Hong/Leehom Wang on Berklee University’s web site this morning, and I thought I’d [...]

The awesomeness that is Hong Kong: Reason enough to learn Cantonese.

A friend of mine just sent me a link to a New York Times article about how Cantonese is slowly dying out in New York’s Chinatown. I couldn’t help but get a little sad reading it. Sure, it’s a ridiculously difficult [...]

Electric Shock: not as effective as once thought…by people who don’t bother to check things out scientifically

Way back in 2007, I blogged about a government-sanctioned program at a hospital in China trying to cure people of Internet addiction using electric shock therapy. Well, apparently the government has had a change of heart. [...]